Linh Cinder
|skin = Tanned |hair = Brown, straight |eye = Brown |height = 5’8” |id = 0097917305 |nationality = Eastern Commonwealth |occupation = Licensed mechanic}} Linh Cinder is the heroine of the Lunar Chronicles. She is a viewpoint character in all four books in the series and the novella Glitches. Biography Early life Linh Cinder (born Selene Channary Jannali Blackburn) was the only daughter and child of the late Queen Channary and the niece of Queen Levana, and was therefore the only true heir to the Lunar throne. When Selene was three years old, she was thought to be killed by a nursery fire that was most likely started by Queen Levana in order to claim the crown for herself. However, without concrete evidence, no one could operated extensively on Selene in order to save her from the wounds she had sustained. An underground operating room underneath Michelle's Benoit farm held Selene in a suspended animation tank for eight years in order to keep her alive but unconscious. Selene was then given to the care of Linh Garan, who adopted her at the age of eleven as Linh Cinder and took her to the Eastern Commonwealth to live with him, despite his wife Adri refusing to accept the girl into their family. From then on until she was sixteen years old, Selene had only known herself as Linh Cinder and had never questioned about the truthfulness of her identity. Garan died from letumosis a few weeks after adopting Cinder, consequently making Adri Cinder's new legal guardian. Adri took full advantage of her status and mistreated Cinder, believing that she was the cause of Garan's death—which is partially, yet unintentionally, true, because Lunars were the ones who carried the plague to Earth. For much of her childhood, Linh Cinder was a girl who had no memory prior to a supposed "hover car accident," in which she had lost her parents as well as her leg and hand. She became a cyborg and was adopted by Linh Garan and was brought to live with the Linh family. Linh Cinder befriended Peony, Garan and Adri's youngest daughter and Pearl's sister, along with the family's android, Iko. Meeting Prince Kai Eventually Linh Cinder adapted to her surroundings and became aware of the people that disliked her due to her being cyborg. Linh Cinder set up a booth in the marketplace in New Beijing Market and worked as a mechanic in order to repay her "debt" to Adri. While she was working one day, Cinder met Prince Kai, who asked her to fix his android Nainsi. After Kai left, the market was evacuated due to a baker in the marketplace, Chang Sacha, showing signs of the plague. Becoming a Letumosis research test-subject Later on, while in the junkyard, Linh Cinder, Iko, and Peony were looking for a new magbelt for Adri's hover car. They then discovered an orange old-fashioned, gas-powered car, which Linh Cinder planned to take home and repair it in order to get to Europe and out of Adri's ward. At the same time, Linh Cinder found symptoms of the plague ( spots and rashes on her skin) on Peony and she was promptly taken away by med-droids to a quarantine. Linh Cinder tested negative for the plague when tested at the time. When Linh Cinder returned home, Adri was grieving over the loss of Peony and infuriated at Linh Cinder, blaming the cause of her daughter's sickness on Linh Cinder. Even though she was confirmed by the med-droids that she did not contract the plague, Linh Cinder believed that she must have passed the plague from Chang Sacha, the market baker taken to the quarantines earlier that day, to Peony. Adri had Linh Cinder taken away to the palace to be used for Letumosis research against Linh Cinder's will. Linh Cinder tried to resist, taking out two med-droids (with her boot and a magbelt) in the process, but was tasered by a third droid and taken in unconscious. Dr. Erland, a researcher in the palace, drew blood from Linh Cinder, and when she woke up, he opened up her control panel and scanned her, revealing that she was 36.28% cyborg, 36.28% not human. The doctor injected her with tagged letumosis pathogens and waited for them to take effect so he could give her a test antidote. After several minutes, however, Linh Cinder's immune system kicked in and the pathogens disappeared. Finding her uniquely different from the other cyborgs, Dr. Erland drew another blood sample and immediately moved her to another lab. He then confronted her to speak to her in person, instead of over an intercom like before, but Linh Cinder tried to attack him with a wrench hidden in her metal calf. However, using his Lunar gift, the doctor made Linh Cinder feel tired and safe, and he persuaded her not to attack him. Dr. Erland told her that she's actually immune to the plague and he questioned her about her childhood. Linh Cinder told him that when she was eleven, she was told she was in a hover car crash that killed her parents, and was given a control panel, a metal hand, and a metal foot to replace the limbs she had lost. Linh Cinder also mentioned that she did not remember anything before her surgery and was taken to the Eastern Commonwealth by Linh Garan, her former guardian. But it was obvious that Dr. Erland had known who she was (The lost lunar Princess Selene) when he came to speak with her. In search of Michelle Benoit Cinder met Carswell Thorne when they were both in the New Beijing Prison and later teamed-up together. Recent activities Characteristics Physical appearance Cinder has a slight, thin build, naturally tanned skin, and straight brown hair below her shoulders, which is usually worn in a tight ponytail. These traits are inherited from her mother, Channary Blackburn. It is mentioned numerous times in the series that Linh Cinder's figure is too angular and too boyish (slightly curvedMarissa Meyer's blog). Her left hand and leg are made of metal, as well as four ribs, her vertebrae, silicon and biotissue around her heart, her brown eyes were also man-made as well as a control panel at the base of her skull, and metal splints along the bones in her right leg. Until it was disabled by Dr. Erland, she had a small chip that suppressed her Lunar gift that was installed in her spine. It was created by her stepfather, Linh Garan, before he succumbed to the plague letumosis. Personality She's stubborn, but tenacious as well. Generally warm-hearted, fair, and friendly to people but also being somewhat awkward in conversations, due to a slight complex about her being a cyborg and looking down upon herself because of this. In the beginning of Cinder, she constantly Cinder is also part tomboy and doesn't particularly care how she dresses; she does, however, wear a ball gown to the Commonwealth ball. But Cinder, although tough, has a soft side that she occasionally shows. When someone gets hurt or something happens to them she gets tense and concerned, and cares for even the people she doesn't know. Unlike Levana, she cares deeply about the value of lives, whether it's Lunar, Earthen, cyborg, shell, etc. This is shown when she is devastated and momentarily breaks down when she accidentally controls a police officer in France with her manipulation of bio-electricity, and, on reflex, makes the police officer guard her from an incoming attack, thus making her die. But Cinder is one of the toughest characters, she is a Lunar, and a runaway fugitive. Cinder is extremely intelligent. She escaped a most certain death at age 3, she broke out of jail, and figured out where Doctor Erland was. Skills and abilities As the true Lunar queen, Cinder is an extremely skilled Lunar with unbelievably powerful abilities of glamouring and bio-electricity manipulation. Her skills are hinted to even surpass Levana's, which is partially why Levana both loathes and fears her. Upon within a week of discovering her skills,she is able to control one of the lupine soldiers of Luna, which is an very remarkable ability, as thaumaturges, with years of training, have difficulty doing so. She is also able to control Sybil Mira, the head thaumaturge, and mentally attack her, driving her to the brink of insanity and ultimately force her to commit suicide by jumping off the palace roof. As a cyborg, she also has a knife within her hand and tranquilizer darts within her wrist that she can shoot at people to temporarily stun them, as she dislikes using her gift (believing that it turns her into a "monster"). In the beginning of Cress, she was also shown to train physically with Wolf, gaining some martial arts abilities. Family tree Luna royal tree Linh tree Etymology *The name "Cinder" comes from the original Cinderella fairy tale, in which Cinderella would often arise covered in cinders. *In Greek mythology, Selene is the titan goddess of the moon, her Roman counterpart is Luna. Relationships Kai Kai is Cinder's love interest. They first met when he entered her booth at the marketplace at New Beijing Market, in the disguise of a gray hoodie to avoid paparazzi, to have his broken android fixed. He then met her again with Dr. Erland under the impression she was fixing a med droid. Because of their connection with Dr. Erland, they met up several times. Every time they met, Kai slowly began to develop feelings for Cinder, asking her to the ball several times, even giving her the gift of beautiful gloves. However, since Cinder thought her status as a cyborg and later Lunar made her unfit for Kai, she repeatedly turned him down making up random excuses. Like Cinder, Kai faced decisions that could result in sacrificing his own life for what he perceived as the greater good. Once Cinder learned that if Kai accepted the Lunar Queen Levana's offer of marriage she would kill him, Cinder went to the ball to warn Kai. Levana saw her there and recognized her because her glamour was similar to her mother's (Levana's late sister, Queen Channary). Kai, the rest of the people at the ball, and most of the world (as it was caught on video) learned that Cinder was a Lunar and cyborg, and Cinder was thrown into New Beijing Prison. Kai seemed to have been extremely distressed by this, because he actually liked her and felt betrayed, for he didn't know if his feelings for Cinder was just her messing with his mind or real. In order to keep peace with Luna and Levana because harboring a Lunar fugitive was against the law, Kai agreed to hand over Cinder to be executed. When Cinder escaped, Queen Levana was quick to blame Kai because of his feelings for her. She then gave him three days to find Cinder. Kai was unable to find her at the end of the three days and Levana attacked, unleashing special Lunar operatives that she sneaked on Earth. As a result, 16,000 Earthens were killed. Kai then agreed to marry Levana in order to stop the attacks. Even after he accepted Levana's marriage proposal, it was evident that Kai still had feelings for Cinder. In fact, almost every time he thought about her, he wished she could escape. When Kai was planning for his wedding with Levana, he treated it more like he was going to his death. He was also very tired of the wedding preparations. On the day of the wedding, he was reunited with Cinder. Their conversation lead into an argument and resulted in Cinder shooting him with a tranquilizing dart. Kai then woke up aboard the Rampion confused, hurt, and shocked. Cress lead Kai into the podship dock where Cinder was repairing Iko. After the two argued for a bit, Cinder finally admitted that she was Princess Selene. Kai then forced Cinder to tell him all of her secrets. She apologized to him and vice versa. The two then shared a kiss, but it was interrupted when Cinder's news of a massacre in Farafrah appeared on Cinder's netscreen. Kai and Cinder grow even closer, even sharing real kisses and a long conversation, leading them to have a better understanding of each other. Sneak Peek (Target Exclusive Edition) Trivia *Cinder is ambidextrous. *Cinder has blood type A. *Just like the original Cinderella, Cinder is almost always covered in dirt. *Author Marissa Meyer may have chosen a fire to be the reason for Linh Cinder's injuries because in the original fairy tale, Cinderella had to pick lentils from a pile of ashes in order to go to the ball. Quotes about Cinder Fanarts Linh Cinder Portrait.jpg|Cinder by © lostie815 Linh Cinder Full Body Shot.jpg|Cinder by © lostie815 Cindaaaa.jpg|Cinder by © AbbiDaSquirrel Linh Cinder sm.png|Cinder by © BlackBirdInk Cinder And Kai.png|Cinder and Kai by © ArtofAngela Cinderand kai by abbidasquirrel-d6hozf0.jpg|Kai and Cinder by © AbbiDaSquirrel Blehhh.jpg|Cress, Cinder and Winter by © AbbiDaSquirrel Notes # Linh Cinder was thought to have been born on November 29, 109 T.E. However, after learning she is really Princess Selene, her actual birthday was discovered to be December 21, 109 T.E. References Category:Cyborgs Category:Lunars